Birth of a Generation
by togurotheman
Summary: A story that takes place five years before the series. My first attempt at a Yugioh fic, please R


**I'm the Hero, In Case You Couldn't Tell**

A bus came to a screeching stop at a street corner and opened its doors. After a moment of silence, a young man carrying a travel sac stepped out. The doors squeaked shut behind him as the bus engine roared, its hulking frame moving once more, leaving a small exhaust cloud behind it. The boy lowered his bag and took out a piece of paper from his pocket. He looked over it for a moment, then slung his travel sac over his right shoulder and started down the street. A late summer breeze blew from the west, blowing the loose bangs of his short black hair. His blue and white windbreaker ruffled slightly, as did the loose legs of his denim pants. The breeze ceased to blow, and his pace was halted. He looked up at the building that was his destination, the gateway to his future. A wicked half smile crept its way onto his lips as he tossed the paper he was still holding behind him, the wind picking up again as it was sent whirling into the horizon. He put his free hand into his coat pocket and continued walking, lightly whistling an old war ballad.

-

The building's lobby was bustling noisily with activity, many people were already inside, shuffling there feet and getting in each other's way. The youth forcefully pushed his way through the mass and arrived at the reception desk. He placed a hand on the front desk and waited for an attendant, who came to him a moment later. "How may I help you?" asked a woman behind the desk.

"I'd like to register myself for admittance into the academy."

The attendant typed a few keys on his computer. "Name?"

"Kaien," the youth answered casually, "Kaien Nakamura. Age fifteen," he added matter of factly.

"Don't get ahead of me, now," the attendant urged as she typed furiously, "date of birth?"

"I don't know."

The attendant raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"That's correct."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

The youth scowled. "What do you think it means?" he replied irritably. The attendant shrank and nervously continued to type in information.

"Home address?" she asked meekly.

"Don't got one of those either."

"I see." The attendant was working up a nervous sweat. Finally she finished. "Go down the hall to the right," he said informatively as he pointed to a doorway across the floor, "you'll reach the exam area. Once you turn in the written exam, go to the next hall for the field exam; they'll call your name when it's your turn."

"All right, then." Kaien headed off, once again having to push his way through the tangled mass. When he was out of sight, the attendant breathed a deep exasperated sigh.

"Such a frightening young man."

-

Kaien was fidgeting as he waited for his turn for the field examination. Patience was not his strongest virtue, and he had become mind numbingly board after only two minutes of waiting. The written exam had not helped matters. He knew the answers to most of the practical questions, and had just skipped the history questions. He didn't see the point in knowing how many rounds the Duelist Kingdom event had, or who made it to the finals. Luckily he wouldn't have to wait much longer, as a voice came on the intercom.

"Kaien Nakamura, report to arena B;" blurted the static voice, "Mr. Kaien Nakamura, please report to arena B." Kaien hopped up energetically.

"Okay," he said to himself, getting pumped up, "time to do that thing I do." He walked down the stands and reached the area at the outside wall of the testing arena marked 'B'. The floor then lowered itself, similar to an elevator, and moved forward under the examination area. It came to a stop and rose into the arena. Across from him stood a somewhat tall man with dark, slicked back hair in an azure buttoned coat. He had a mechanical device strapped to his right arm.

"Mister Nakamura," he called hospitably, "so good to meet you. My name is Muto Gosenki; I'm one of the instructors of the academy. Your field test will be against me. Are you ready?"

"Oh, trust me," he answered confidently as he plopped his sac onto the ground and rustled through it, producing a deck of brown cards, "I'm definitely ready."

"Very good!" Prof. Gosenki responded enthusiastically, removing a similar deck of cards from his coat pocket and placing it into a slot in the device on his arm as it whirred to life with lights, extending a section of itself. "Let's get things started!"

"You got it!" Kaien shouted back. The air was still for a moment. "Ur…" Kaien suddenly muttered, looking embarrassed. "Um," he started, pointing at the device attached to Gosenki's arm, "I don't have one of those."

"Eh?" the professor said, surprised. "Oh! Well, that's no problem." He turned around. "Can we get a spare dual disk for this young man?" he called out quite loudly. Many other testees chuckled at this. Kaien hung his head,mentally souring.

_"Oh, nice one, Nakamura! Why don't you go parade your poor financial status in front of the lobby?"_

"I have one here, professor!" someone called out from the stands behind him. Kaien turned towards the source, and his mind went blank. A young woman with long red hair and a white uniform similar to the one the professor was wearing approach him and hand the dual disk to him. "Here you go!" she said cheerfully as she placed it in his hands.

"Uh…uh," Kaien stuttered weekly.

"Ah, miss Ioki!" the professor blurted out, "Thank you!"

"No big deal," she replied generously as she walked away, "I have some things to take care of, so get it back to me later."

"Righto."

Kaien watched her leave, having not moved since she had handed him the contraption. A silly grin graced his lips. _"She smelled nice." _He breathed in blissfully. _"I wonder if I can meet her later?"_

As he was thinking this and drifting mentally, a separate voice appeared in his mind. _"Hello!"_ it screamed. _"Earth to Nakamura! Kind 'a in the middle of something important here! Snap out of it!"_ the inner voice ordered. The physical Kaien ignored it, continuing to daydream. _"Oh, for cryin out…"_ Kaien's inner self griped, _"the spirit is willing, but the flesh is ero. You're hopeless!"_

"Mister Nakamura?" Prof. Gosenki inquired, wondering what the hold up was.

"Eh?" came Kaien's dazed response, coming out of his blissful stupor.

"_Yes!"_ rejoiced his subconscious, _"Thank you, professor type guy!"_

"Shall we continue?" Prof. Gosenki asked.

"Oh!" he started, returning to his senses. "Yeah, we're good."

"We?"

"Yeah, we-I mean-me!" he hastily corrected himself, shaking his head frantically. "I'M good!" he stressed firmly. This only further confused the professor.

"All right…if you say so," the professor said finally. "Such a strange boy…" he added under his breath.

"You say something?"

Prof. Gosenki jumped slightly and cleared his throat. "Let's just go from the top." He readied his disk. "As per procedure, you, the examinee, will go first," the professor explained.

"Alright, let's get it on!" Kaien yelled confidently. He then starts fumbling the dual disk, as Prof. Gosenki looked on astounded. "How the heck d' you work this thing?" he muttered in frustration.

"Is this guy for real?" the professor questioned grimly. With a final grunt, Kaien managed to successfully activate the device.

"Sorry about that," he said with an embarrassed tone, "Where I come from, the most technologically advanced thing we need to play is a sturdy table."

"Right-," Prof. Gosenki said uncertainly.

"Anyway, game start!" Kaien yelled as both player life points shot up to 4000. Kaien drew and looked over his cards briefly. "I'll summon one monster face down," he said as he placed a card onto his disk and a sideways brown card appeared in front of him, "and that's it for now."

"A text book opening, very good," the professor complimented as he drew a card. "I'll summon Kinetic Soldier (1350/1800), in attack mode!" he declared as a robotic soldier with blue armor and a white faceplate appeared in front of him. "Now, I attack your face down monster!" he declared as Kinetic Soldier charged forward. "Go, Static Fist!" he commanded as the Kinetic Soldier raised his charged fist and smashed the card in front of Kaien into pixels. Kaien didn't even flinched. Quite the contrary, he cracked a smile.

"Sorry, but the monster you destroyed was UFO Turtle!" A metal-shelled turtle appeared on the field in front of Kinetic Soldier, as the professor grit his teeth. "Whenever UFO Turtle is destroyed in battle, his special ability activates; it allows me to search my deck for any fire attribute monster with 1500 or less attack points and summon it to the field in attack position. And I choose," he began, his UFO Turtle crying out as it was engulfed by a pillar of light, and in its place when it faded was a dragon with flaming scales, "Solar Flare Dragon (1500/1000)!" Kaien finished as the newly summoned beast gave a triumphant roar.

Prof. Gosenki shrugged. "I end my turn."

"My draw!" responded Kaien. "First, I'll place two cards face down," he stated as two cards in his back row appeared, "next, I'll play the card Graceful Charity; I can draw three cards and discard any two from my hand to the graveyard," Kaien explained as he did so. "Now I summon Ultimate Baseball Kid (500/1000), in attack mode!" A little athlete in red and wielding a studded bat appeared, with a catcher standing behind him. "Batter up," Kaien said sarcastically. "Now, Solar Flare Dragon, attack Kinetic Soldier!" he commanded as the flaming reptile was completely engulfed in flame, and wrapped around Kinetic Soldier. It breathed a stream of fire down on its head, destroying it and lowering Prof. Gosenki's life points to 3850. "And now Ultimate Baseball Kid, attack him directly with Hotshot Homer!" A flaming sphere appeared in front of the red clad athlete, and he smacked it with his bat and sent it flying toward the professor. "Oh, and did I mentioned his special ability?" Kaien interrupted. "For every fire type monster out on the field other than himself, he gains a thousand attack points!" The flaming sphere suddenly bulged to three times its original size mid-flight as it careened toward its target. Prof. Gosenki braced himself as it smashed into him and lowered his life points to 2350. "I'll end my turn now, and with it, Solar Flare Dragon's special affect activates, and does five hundred direct damage to you!" Kaien stated as the molten-scaled dragon roared, the flames on its scales flaring up and sending a blast of heat towards its master's opponent.

The professor groan as his life points further lowered to 1850. "Well played, mister Nakamura." He drew and looked over his cards. "First I'll activate the spell card, Pot of Greed, and draw two cards. Now I play the card Monster Reincarnation; by discarding a card in my hand to the graveyard, I can return Kinetic Soldier to my hand, and then I'll activate the spell card Emergency Provisions!" he declared. "Now for each spell card I send from the field other than this one, I can regain a thousand life points. And by sending Monster Reincarnation to the graveyard, I gain a thousand life points do to the affects of Emergency Provisions!" the professor explained as his life points rose to 2850. "Now, I summon Kinetic Soldier once again!" he declared as the blue armored warrior reappeared onto the field.

"Huh?" Kaien said in a puzzled manner, "That thing again? But it's weaker than both my monsters."

Prof. Gosenki grinned. "It doesn't matter," he replied assuringly, "because Kinetic Soldier can still destroy one of your monsters!"

"Say what?" Kaien said in disbelief.

"Now, Kinetic Soldier;" Gosenki ordered, "attack Ultimate Baseball Kid!" The masked warrior roared as it leapt at the little athlete. "Your monster may be a fire type first, but he's a warrior second," explained the professor, "and when Kinetic Soldier does battle with a warrior type monster, he gains an extra 2000 attack points!"

"Ah, crud," Kaien cried in dismay.

"Go, Kinetic Soldier," Gosenki shouted, "Super-Conductive Slam!" The electrified warrior clasped its hands together and slammed them into the batter's head. The little batters eyes swirled as he swayed from side to side before falling on his face as the catcher signaled an out. They both then shattered into pixels. Kaien winced as his life points lowered to 2150. "I'll end my turn with a face down," Gosenki said as another rear card materialized.

-

Around the testing area were stands where others could watch the matches taking place. While some of them were academy officials, most were applicants or returning students. One such student sitting in the stands was a young man wearing a white uniform with yellow outlines. He scratched his brown covered head as he continued to survey the arenas with his gray eyes. His attention was turned away as some one came down to his row.

"Here's your soda," said a young girl wearing a skirted uniform the same color pattern as his, handing him a can.

"Thank you, Reiko," the boy said as he took the offered beverage. The girl plopped down onto the seat next to him.

"So," she said cheerily, "which one are we on now?"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Another bet?" he queried. "You've already lost three of them, do you really want to try again?"

"Of course," the girl responded confidently, "and I'm going to keep trying till I win."

"If you insist," he said with a sigh, "you pick."

The black haired girl adjusted her round spectacles and looked over the various testing areas. "Hm," she started curiously. Her gazed stopped on the dual between Kaien and Gosenki. "That one," she confirmed, pointing with her finger.

-

"It's my turn now," Kaien affirmed as he drew a card. "I'll activate my facedown card," he said as the first of his rear cards stood up, "Call of the Haunted. This lets me bring back one monster in my graveyard to the field in attack position." A glowing light appeared in front of him. "And if you think I'm bringing back Ult. Baseball Kid, sorry, but I'm selecting the Fire Princess (1300/1500) I discarded earlier," he explained as a red garbed women appeared in front of him.

"Clever," Gosenki commented.

"Now I'll activate the spell card from my hand, Goblin Thief; this reduces your life points by five hundred, and also increases my own by five hundred," Kaien said as the professor's life points lowered to 2350, and his own rose to 2650, "and with that, Fire Princess's effect is activated: whenever my life points are increased, you take five hundred points of damage!" Gosenki's life points lowered further to 1850. "Now I sacrifice Fire Princess to summon Thestalos, the Firestorm Monarch (2400/1000)!" The maiden of fire was whisked away, and her place stood the king of fire. He held a flame in his hand, and threw it at Gosenki. The professor winced as the flame engulfed him. "Whenever Thestalos is successfully tribute summoned, one card is randomly discarded from the opposing player's hand," Kaien explained as one of the cards in Gosenki's hand shot out into the air, "and if the card is a monster, you take damage of a hundred times its level." The professor caught the air born card. He placed it into the graveyard, and his life points lowered to 1550. "I won't attack this time. I'll put Solar Flare Dragon into defense mode and end my turn."

-

"Looks like he's winning," Reiko commented as the dual went on.

"Looks can be deceiving," the brown haired boy replied dryly.

"Really?" Reiko said, unconvinced, "and what makes you say that?"

"Because I've seen that professor dual five times today already, and he won them all," he replied. "And while that guy was able to do a large amount of damage all in one turn," he continued, leaning forward and placing his arms on the railings, "he depleted a large amount of his resources in the process."

The girl shrugged. "You know it only takes one card to turn the game around."

"True," the boy asserted calmly, "but the one most likely to have that one card at this point is the professor."

"Hmph," Reiko replied haughtily, "I still say he wins."

"So it's a bet, then?"

"Yeah, double or nothing!" she said authoritively.

"Oh, really, now?" the boy replied keenly.

-

Gosenki groaned as his life points lowered again to 1050 due to Kaien's dragon. "Phew," he sighed exhaustingly, "if I hadn't increased my life points earlier, I'd be done right now."

"Yeah, but that's okay," Kaien said confidently, "I can wait an extra turn."

The professor drew his card and narrowed his eyes. "Yes," he replied to Kaien's boast, "I can as well."

"Huh?"

"I activate the spell card, A Shallow Grave! Now we both select a monster in our graveyard and summon it to the field facedown," he explained as a horizontal card materialized on each player's side. "I now sacrifice my face down card," began the professor.

"_I already prepared for this;"_ Kaien thought as he eyed his own back row card, _"my Blast held by a Tribute will take care of his summoned monster, and then I'll finish him off with Solar Flare Dragon's affect."_

"and summon Jinzo (2400/1500)!" Gosenki finished as the cyborg came onto the field.

Kaien's eyes widened. "Crap."

"I'm not done yet," Gosenki said excitedly, "I equip my Jinzo with this spell card, Amplifier." A metal helmet appeared on the cyborg's head. "I can now activate trap cards even when Jinzo is on the field," he explained, "which I'll do right now!" His back row card stood up. "I reveal my face down, DNA Surgery! Now I pick a subtype, and so long as this card remains on the field, all face up monsters become that type, and I choose warrior type."

"Ah, snap!" Kaien muttered.

"Now I attack Thestalos with Kinetic Soldier!" the professor declared as the blue armored warrior attacked. "And since Thestalos is now a warrior, Kinetic Soldier's effect increases his own attack points by two thousand!" The blue warrior's muscles bulged as it smashed the flame ruler into pixels, lowering Kaien's life points to1700. "Now, Jinzo, destroy Solar Flare Dragon!" Gosenki ordered. The cyborg casually raised its hand and fired a stream of electricity at the defending dragon. Kaien winced as it was destroyed. "I end my turn."

-

"Aw, man!" Reiko whined. "He was doing so good, too."

"It's like you said," the boy replied coolly, "one card is all it takes to change the pace of the dual. In this case, it was his own card that caused this; when he discarded a card from the professor's hand, that opened up the window of opportunity to pull this combo off."

"Hey, Itsuki," Reiko started.

"Hm?"

"Can he win at this point?" she said uncertainly. Itsuki raised an eyebrow, not sure what it was exactly she was concerned about. He pulled out a small abacus. Reiko's face sunk. "Why do carry that thing around with you, exactly?"

"I'll have you know that it is quite useful," he protested unchalantly. He moved the counters on the device around quickly. "I calculate the probability of him winning at this point to be three in twenty nine. He's done."

-

"_This is bad,"_ Kaien thought to himself, "_my plan was just shot to hell, and I can't think of anything to do right now."_ He drew a card for his turn and looked it over. He sighed. "Not what I was hoping for, but it'll have to do."

"Hm?" the professor said curiously. "What did you draw?"

"This, Nightmare Steel Cage!" Kaien declared. "This card keeps any monster on the field from attacking for two of your turns." A spiked metal caged appeared around the professor's monsters, preventing anything from getting in or out. "I end my turn."

"Stalling, huh? No matter," Gosenki remarked as he drew. "I summon Cannon Soldier," he declared as a purple robot with a shoulder-mounted gun appeared on the field. "And I'll activate his special ability and sacrifice himself to deal five hundred points of direct damage to you!" The mechanized grenadier disappeared in a vortex. A beam shot out from it, striking Kaien and lowering his life points to 1200.

Kaien groaned. "Even with my cage out, I still got hit," he grimaced.

"You've done well, Mr. Nakamura," Prof. Gosenki congratulated, "know that even if you don't win, you may still get accepted into the academy."

"Good to know," Kaien responded, not sounding all that pleased.

"I end my turn, make your move."

-

Back in the stands, Reiko was resting her head on her hands. "I guess he really is going to loose," she commented gloomily.

"Ah!" an applicant in another arena below cried out. "I lost!" He hung his head pathetically.

"Don't worry about it," assured the proctor, "if you scored high enough on the written exam, you can still be accepted into the academy."

Reiko sighed. "Even if you are accepted, if you loose the application dual, you're guaranteed to start at the bottom of the barrel."

Itsuki crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. "I've heard the ruling council is debating whether or not to make winning the application dual mandatory for admittance." He shrugged. "That would help with screening."

Reiko turned her attention back to Kaien's dual. "Come on kid," she whispered in encouragement, "just one card."

-

Kaien drew his next card. _"Terrific, a trap card, exactly what I don't need."_ He looked over his hand. _"I have to stall more."_ He took a card from his hand. "I play the spell card, Giant Trunade, it returns all back row cards on the field to their owner's hand." Gosenki's DNA Surgery and Amplifier cards went back into his hand, and three cards returned to his own hand. "And since Amplifier was removed from the field, the Jinzo it was equipped to is destroyed!" The cyborg groaned before shattering. "Now I reactivate Nightmare Steel Cage." The vanished metal bars reappeared. The count was reset, giving him an extra turn of protection. "I end my turn."

Gosenki drew his card. "I'll place one card face down, and activate the spell card, Card Destruction; we discard are present hand to the graveyard," he explained, "then we draw a number of cards equivalent to that which we discarded."

Kaien discarded his hand and drew four new cards. He growled lightly. _"These don't help me at all!"_

"I'll place one more card face down and end my turn." Another card appeared in the professor's back row.

"My turn," Kaien replied as he reached to draw a card.

"Just a moment," the professor interrupted, "I reveal my second face down, Dust Tornado; it allows me to destroy one of your spell or trap cards on the field, and I select Nightmare Steel Cage!" A cyclone formed around the metal barrier. It started to shake, and was blown to pieces. The fragments shattered, and the wind faded. "It looks like I still get to attack next turn after all," he remarked.

Kaien grit his teeth. He refocused his attention, and drew one last card. This one would decide his fate. He drew it slowly, not wanting to see what it was at first. He braced himself as he held it in front of his face. His eyes then perked up. He looked at his cards in his hand along with the one he just drew and smiled. _"This is just crazy enough to work."_

"Think of something?" the professor inquired.

Kaien jumped. "Aw, crap!" he blurted out. "So much for the element of surprise."

Gosenki laughed. "It's fine, so long as you can continue."

"If you insist," he replied, placing a card face onto the disk. "I activate my own Monster Reincarnation, I discard one card and return UFO Turtle in the graveyard to my hand," he explained, "and then I'll summon it to the field." The metal-shelled reptile emerged once more. "Now I'll flip my Ult. Baseball Kid face up." The little athlete appeared to step up to plate. "I now equip UFO Turtle with United We Stand, increasing his attack points by sixteen hundred!"

"Oh? Is that what you drew?" the professor pried.

"No" he answered calmly, "the card I drew was this: Last Will;" he said as he activated the spell card, "when ever one of my monsters is destroyed in the turn this card is activated, I can special summon a monster from my deck with 1500 or less attack points to the field. Now, UFO Turtle, attack Kinetic Soldier!" he ordered. The reptile retreated into its shell. Fire erupted from the holes, levitating the turtle as it spun around, before finally launching at the armored mechanical warrior.

"I reactivate DNA Surgery," declared the professor as his back row card stood up, "I use its affect to change all face up monsters to warrior type." The armored warrior's muscles bulged as it grabbed the metal-shelled reptile, stopping its attack. "And with the attack bonus Kinetic Soldier receives due to his effect, his attack power is now greater than your turtle." The futuristic warrior pushed the metal shell in with both hands; the shell was crushed together before it shattered.

Kaien stood fast as his life points lowered to 850. "I activate the affect of UFO Turtle and Last Will to summon two-count 'em, two- Ult. Baseball Kids." Two more batters joined the existing one out on the field. "I place one card face down and end my turn." Another back row card appeared on his side of the field.

-

"A last stand, huh?" Itsuki commented casually. He didn't think it mattered what he had face down; he had faith in his calculations.

"You think he's bluffing?" Reiko asked.

"Maybe," he answered, holding up the soda can she had given him earlier. "Let's see," he began thoughtfully, " double or nothing; that's another two sodas you'll have to buy me."

Reiko glared at him. "You don't have to act so smug."

"I know," he replied smirkly, "I just choose to be."

-

"Hm," the professor hummed as he assessed the current situation. He couldn't quite comprehend what this boy was planning. He shrugged and drew. "What the heck," he said finally, "one way or another, let's end this dual right now! I summon a second Kinetic Soldier!" Another blue armored fighter appeared on the field. "Now, attack Ult. Baseball Kid!" he ordered as his monster charged again. "Even with the three of them powering each other up, they still don't have enough attack points to survive this attack."

"That's true," Kaien answered with a grin, "we'll just have to fix that."

"What do you mean?" the professor said, confused.

"I activate my face down, DNA Transplant!" Kaien declared as his back row card stood up. "I now select a main type, and all face up monsters become that type as long as this card remains on the field," he explained, "and I choose fire type."

"What good does that do you? You have no other monsters on your field."

"My dear professor," Kaien replied sarcastically, placing his hand on his head, " you disappoint me. Ultimate Baseball Kid's effect gives it an extra thousand attack points for every fire type monster face up on the field;" he lifted his hand, "all of them," he stressed. He then pointed in front of him. "That includes both of your Kinetic Soldiers!"

"But that would make their attack strength forty five hundred a piece!" gasped the professor.

"Exactly." Kaien affirmed. The attacking Kinetic soldier was met by the little athlete's bat, sending it flying back and shattering; reducing Prof. Gosenki's life points to zero. He stood there with his mouth gaping as the holographs all disappeared. Kaien walked up to him and held out his hand. "That was a good match," he congratulated, "I learned a lot from dueling you."

The professor stared at him blankly. He smiled and closed his eyes. "Looks like I lost this one." He opened his eyes and shook the boy's hand. "Well played, mister Nakamura," he complimented, "I guess I just wasn't any match for you."

"Yeah," Kaien said embarrassingly, rubbing the back of his head, "I guess so." He laughed a little. _"Oh, man!"_ he thought exasperatingly, _"I almost got my ass kicked."_

(Kaien's thoughts a few moments ago)-_"Don't draw Cannon Soldier- Don't draw Cannon Soldier- Don't draw Cannon Soldier- Don't draw Cannon Soldier- Don't draw Cannon Soldier-Don't Draw Mystical Space Typhoon-Don't draw Cannon Soldier-Don't draw Cannon Soldier- Don't draw Cannon Soldier-Don't draw Heavy Storm- Don't draw Cannon Soldier- Don't draw Cannon Soldier-…"_

-

Itsuki looked on with astounded eyes. He couldn't believe it; the guy had won. Had he miscalculated? He never miscalculated. "Could he possibly be able to defy such logic?" he said softly to himself. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Reiko snatch the soda can from his hand.

"I'll take that!" she said joyously. Itsuki caught his breath in surprise. His expression then soured.

"Here I thought you were actually concerned about that guy, when you just wanted your drink back."

"What can I say?" she replied innocently, "I was thirsty."

Itsuki slumped his shoulders, glaring at her from the corner of his eye. "Remind me again why we're friends?"

"Bleh!" Reiko shot back, sticking out her tongue.

-

Kaien was wandering one of the building's halls. He reached a door at the end and opened it. The woman that had given him his disk was inside going over some paper work. Excuse me," he said as he stepped into the room.

"Huh?" she responded, turning her head. "Yes?"

Kaien handed her the device. "Uh, thanks for letting me borrow this."

"Oh, it's fine," she assured him, taking it, "I couldn't have an examinee dueling on the floor, now could I?" Her attention fell onto the disk. "There are still cards in the slot."

"Eh?" Kaien replied, confused. "Oh, sorry," he apologized, removing them, "guess I forgot to take him out." His expression shifted as he was hit with an epiphany. "Aw, crap!" he bellowed, clasping his head. "I forgot my stuff back in the arena!" He ran out the door and stumbled as he turned back around. "Thank you-bye-" he said frantically, bowing. He then shot away, slamming into the wall. "Ack!" he cried out. He then ran past the door again going down the hall.

The woman sat there, blinking. She snickered a little. "Such a funny guy."

Author's commentary:

So there it is. You like? This was my first attempt at something in this particular genre. This was more of an experiment than anything; if it's not up to snuff I plan to redo it. Please tell me how you liked it.

Hanzo: When do I show up?

I haven't finished your character design, get back in the idea box; back I say!

: What about me?

I haven't even given you a name yet, back in the box!

Hanzo:Well, that settles that, we're totally screwed.

:Please read and review! I don't want to not exist!

Calm down guys, it's not like I'm going to completely ditch this and go on a year long hiatus.

Hanzo:…

:…

Goku:….

Where'd you come from?

Goku: Nowhere.

(My sincerest apologies to anyone who got that.)


End file.
